Participants of the Pagadian City Health Office for the CHITS Training. Photo courtesy of The National Telehealth Center

The Community Health Information Tracking System (CHITS) is now in its 14th year of operations in the country. CHITS is part of the National Telehealth System wherein medical services for the public are linked electronically. CHITS is part of that system as well as the RxBox.

These systems enable the various health centers to be connected and can transmit needed information in the conduct of public health service.

The City of Pagadian has already improved its capacity in providing health care to its citizens. The city's four main health centers are all integrated with CHITS and it is the first city in the Zamboanga Peninsula to do so.

The training of its city health office staff has recently been concluded with regards to its electronic medical records system.

The University of the Philippines (UP) Manila – National Telehealth Center undertook the training of the city health office staff through the initiative of Pagadian City Mayor Romeo Pulmones and the City Health Officer, Dr. Noel Ceniza. The training and deployment of CHITS were undertaken in the districts of Sta. Lucia, San Pedro, Balingasan and San Jose, all of the has coverage on 54 barangays in the city.

The training was attended by 22 health workers last May 17 -19, 2017. Participants in the training were physicians, nurses, midwives, pharmacists, IT practitioners and even members of the sanitation department.

The training included subjects such as the importance of good quality data, practice of ethics in 3Health, Basic CHIT Modules that were composed of general consults, maternal care, lying-in, hygiene, family planning and even Philhealth reports.

With their efforts in acquiring information technology resources in health, the Pagadian City Health Office envisions to lead the way in eHealth in the region.